A comprehensive review of fundamentals and future trajectories in oil-water separation system designs with superwetting materials

The rapid increase in the production of oily wastewater by industrial and daily activities, oil spill accidents, etc., has led to critical environmental issues. The solution to oil-induced pollution lies in developing efficient oil-water separation technologies. Recently, materials with extreme wettability, particularly those exhibiting superhydrophilic with superoleophobic or superhydrophobic with superoleophilic properties, have emerged as promising solutions for achieving highly efficient and selective oil-water separation. This review offers a comprehensive overview of system designs utilizing such materials for selective oil-water separation. Here, we discuss the rationale underlying the design strategy for the systems used for the separation process. Based on the broad scenarios utilizing oil-water separation, two primary groups of system designs are identified: those handling enclosed oil-water mixtures, such as treating oily wastewater before discharge, and those addressing open-to-air hypaethral oil-water mixtures, such as in the case of oil spills, oil on water bodies post oily wastewater discharge. The review traces the evolution of system designs from batch processing to continuous processing systems, identifies commonalities, and discusses the rationale and underlying design constraints. This analysis can guide the selection of appropriate systems for testing materials in oil-water separation and provides insights into future design development for further real-life deployment.